Colorado Rockies morning after: Big innings are undoing Tyler Chatwood

Well, that’s not exactly how the Colorado Rockies wanted to open their four-game, home-and-home series against the Seattle Mariners.

A Mariners team mired in the bottom of the American League West did all of their damage against Colorado starter Tyler Chatwood in another head-scratching performance by the right-hander as Seattle held off Colorado for a 6-5 decision on Memorial Day.

Seattle (23-29) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning thanks in part to the wildness of Chatwood and the hitting of Seattle starter Sam Gaviglio, who recorded his first-ever MLB hit to open the frame. Jean Segura was hit by a pitch and Ben Gamel drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.

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Chatwood then uncorked a wild pitch to plate Gaviglio and give Seattle a 1-0 lead. Consecutive groundouts from Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz plated Segura and Gamel to push the early Mariners advantage to 3-0.

"“Obviously, I had traffic, but I had chances to get out of it limiting the damage, and I wasn’t able to do that,” Chatwood told reporters after the game."

The 27-year-old Colorado right-hander has had some big problems with his control this month. In each of his six starts, he has walked three or more batters in all of them. That includes the three he walked on Monday … and two of those three walks eventually scored.

Chatwood has also allowed five or more earned runs in three of those starts, including the six he surrendered in 4.1 innings against Seattle. Big innings have undone Chatwood so far in 2017. Three runs given up in the third and fifth innings on Monday. A five-run second against the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 12. A five-run sixth against the San Diego Padres on May 2.

When the wheels have come off for Chatwood this month, they’ve blown all the way off.

"“He got off to a good start, I think, with the two zeros right off the get-go,” Colorado manager Bud Black said about Monday’s performance. “But the third and the fifth were a struggle for him, for sure.”"

It has truly been a feast or famine month for Chatwood, who has a seven-inning shutout and a one-run, seven-inning performance to his credit in May. While last year’s inconsistency could at least be categorized as home versus away for Chatwood, this season has been anything but that. True, his road ERA is 3.06 this month while his ERA at Coors Field has now spiked to over 7 (at 7.03). Still, there have been good and bad starts, both at home and away from Denver.

Chatwood struggled with his command throughout his Monday start, unable to post a clean inning. He did, however, get some solid defensive help from Trevor Story and Carlos Gonzalez to keep the damage from growing even further.

Story made a whirling dervish of a play to throw out Danny Valencia in the second inning then helped Chatwood get out of the fourth by fielding a grounder near second base and starting a 6-3 double play.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, grabbed a deep fly ball from Jarrod Dyson to end the second inning, leaping to make the grab just before he reached the right field wall.

One of the solid pieces of last year’s Rockies rotation, Chatwood, now 4-7 on the season, is struggling to find himself this season.

"“I just didn’t execute the way I wanted to,” Chatwood told reporters on Monday. “I felt good overall, but I didn’t execute when I wanted to.”"

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That must change if Chatwood is to remain in the rotation after Jon Gray returns from injury. One of the current pitchers will lose their spot when Gray returns in mid-June. If Chatwood can’t find his consistency and keep big innings from happenings, he looks to be the odd man out.